Hi everyone, I recently came across a record in which my ancestor, Francesco Giordano, had an abbreviation before his name, which looked like "Mgr:o." His wife appears to have, I assume, a feminine version of this in front of her name, but I can't tell, the ink has been smudged. I have linked the image; his name should be in the center. Would anyone be able to tell me what this means? Thanks very much in advance.

I have seen this many times in my research, it is not a typical prefix, instead used for specific individuals. Depending upon the era and location, it usually translates to "Magistro" which indicates someone who 1) holds a political office or 2) is an educator of some sort.

Many thanks to both of you, this is extremely helpful. I found another document for the marriage of Francesco's son where they were both listed as a calzolaio, so perhaps he was a 'master' shoemaker? His son shows up a few years later as proprietario, and remains so until his death, but I'm thinking that was through his wife's dowry.